Heatwaves
by randomrandom
Summary: The Doctor and Rose do the festival thing... but all is not as it seems. Shippiness and adventures ensue. WIP
1. Landing

Part One 

"So where are we? London?"

"Close."

Rose waited for him to elaborate on this, but when he made no signs of further communication, she walked right up to the centre of the room and placed herself firmly between him and the controls which were so strongly holding his attention.

"How about when?"

"Uh-huh." He tried to continue tinkering, reaching around her.

"Doctor, where are we?" she grabbed the tool (a spanner that seemed to accommodate all different shapes, somehow, and had zappy things at the end of it, she noted) from his hand, and he finally acknowledged her increasingly irritated presence.

He stepped back, folding his arms, a slight frown forming on his face.

"Well, we're close."

"You said that."

"Couple of months early, few miles away."

Rose threw her hands up in the air, dropping the zappy spanner, and stalked off towards the doors of the TARDIS, muttering something about blood and stones under her breath.

"You've left your phone, and your key, in the kitchen," he stated calmly, without looking up from the control desk.

She screeched, turned, and stomped out of the main control room, heading out into the kitchen and slamming the door behind her.

"I'll just sort it out on my own then, shall I?" the Doctor called after her. "That's fine, really. You just relax."

She laughed as she sat down; the more argumentative (one-sided or otherwise), her relationship with the Doctor was, the more fun it was. She reached for her phone, and tucking her legs up under her on the chair, phoned home. There was no reply, so she scrolled through her phonebook, and called her mum's mobile. It was off.

"Weird," she said to herself, absently taking a biscuit from a nearby packet, making to take a bite and missing her mouth completely, as she dialled Mickey's number.

"'Lo?"

"Mickey?"

"Rose! H… I – Hey!"

"How are ya?"

"Good, yeah." There was a pause. "You?"

"Oh, really great. Fantastic." She beamed in spite of herself. "Listen Mickey, is anything up with my mum? I've been trying to get hold of her and her phone's off and all…"

"Jackie? Oh they left a coupla days ago. Be gone two weeks, I think."

"Gone where!"

"You mean she hasn't told you? She's met some bloke, absolutely minted. Taken her off to some posh resort place somewhere. Caribbean or something."

"Blimey. What's he like?"

"Rich. Loaded."

"Oh not you as well. You said that already, what's he _like?_"

She could practically hear his shrug.

"I dunno, do I? I don't notice these things."

She snorted, biting back a Doctor style comment on what Mickey was likely to notice.

"Alright, see ya then Mickey." She hung up.

"Doctor!" Rose came running into the room, phone in hand, looking slightly put out. "Don't move us."

"Eh?"

"She's not there, my mum. Mickey said she's gone on holiday. Met some bloke…"

"Mickey?"

She waved her phone in front of his face.

"You're not quite on top of things today, are you Doctor." It wasn't really a question.

"Watch it." He pointed the spanner at her as if he were wagging a finger in reprimand. "I'm the one with the big spaceship, remember."

"And the big spanner," she said, not paying attention. "Erm. Type, thing…" She reddened under his disdainfully amused raised eyebrow.

She grabbed the offending object.

"What is it, anyway?"

He considered. "Pretty much a big spanner type thing."

Now that he had managed to vaguely humble her, he felt able to take charge of the situation again.

"Shall we?" with a grin he held out an elbow, which she took, and out they went.

It was boiling hot outside. The heat rushed at the pair and enveloped them as they stepped out of the TARDIS, both blinking in the bright sunlight that greeted them.

They looked at each other.

"Shall we try that again?"

Rose nodded, "lets."

And back inside they went.

Rose quickly changed into an old denim skirt, short enough to make movement possible, a pair of white converse trainers and a plain white vest.

She was pulling her hair up out of her face when she emerged into the hall, and walked smack into the Doctor, who was wearing…

She did a small double take. He was wearing jeans and a dark green t-shirt. No jumper, no leather jacket. She grinned.

"We should visit heat waves more often."

She felt, as well as saw him look her up and down, and with anyone else she'd have made a fuss, slapped him or yelled a bit, but with him it didn't seem to matter. It wasn't like that between them, not physically; their relationship seemed to defy any label she could think of. But whatever they were, wherever and whenever they were, she always had this underlying feeling that she belonged to him. Maybe it was because he'd saved her life so many times; because he'd given her life when she'd been merely existing.

But then, she'd saved his life too, so what did that mean?

She'd been thinking all this in the split second it had taken for her eyes to get caught in his, for her to get completely caught off guard by the look he gave her. He was still standing awfully close.

"Yeah, we should. Much more often."

He turned and walked off to the main control room so quickly that Rose wondered if she'd just imagined the whole little exchange.

"So, do you like music, Rose Tyler?"

She blinked.

"Yeah… Mickey was always taking me to these drum'n'bass gigs…"

"You call that music?"

She laughed. "Not really, no."

They were holding hands as they exited the TARDIS for the second time. He looked down at her, smiling his "fantastic" smile.

"Reading festival, summer 2005. No idea why we're here, but if we've nowhere else to be in a hurry…"

She grinned.

"Let's go."


	2. Dancing

Part Two.

They had landed near a campsite, among a grim looking collection of portaloos

"Charming," Rose muttered.

"Well, at least we're a bit less… conspicuous here," the Doctor offered.

She gazed at the big blue box that sat in the midst of the big grey boxes, and then turned to look at him, eyebrows raised.

"Alright, alright. Not my fault, anyway."

She grinned at him and linked her arm through his as they made their way through the campsite, carefully stepping over various people in assorted states of consciousness, and picking an unsteady path through the sea of tents around them. The sun continued to beat down on them, a dry heat that seemed to wash over Rose's skin. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes, letting the warmth bathe her face.

"Haven't seen the sun for a while," he commented softly.

She smiled happily up at him. "Nope."

"It suits you."

"What suits me?"

"Sunlight."

And he turned and quickened his pace so that Rose had to run a few steps to catch up with him. She said nothing, just slipped her hand into his and looked around, taking in the sight before them. Obviously they'd landed near one of the better sites, because they'd emerged into the entrance area between the campsites and the stages. They could hear music drifting towards them, mixed with the inevitable noises of the crowd.

The Doctor looked at his watch. "Quarter to five," he told her. "The good bands'll be on the main stage from now on, then."

"Yeah?" she dragged him towards the entrance. "I like the sound of this one. And how d'you know about this sort of thing?"

He grinned. "Well I have to have a break from saving the worlds sometimes, don't I?"

"S'pose so."

The Doctor flashed his psychic paper to get them in, and they made their way through the crowds until they were near the main stage, the music now loud and hypnotic.

_Wait in line  
Til your time  
Ticking clock  
Everyone stop…_

Rose felt the music start to flow through her as the crowd around them moved in time to the beat and heat filtered through her. Someone nearby lost their balance and a domino effect caused her to fall against the Doctor, his hands sliding around her waist to steady her. He kept them there, making her skin tingle even through the thin fabric of her top. She looked over her shoulder at him and saw his eyes fixed on the stage ahead of them, expression unreadable.

_Do you believe  
In what you see?  
Motionless wheel  
Nothing is real  
Wasting my time  
In the waiting line  
Do you believe in  
What you see?_

She vaguely remembered him mentioning once that Gallifreyans had lower body temperatures than humans. He certainly didn't look as hot as she felt, and his hands were wonderfully cool; her top kept riding up as she moved to the music, and each time it did he idly let his hands meet her skin. After a while he just kept them there, tracing patterns on her skin with his fingers.

She felt dizzy. She didn't know if it was the heat, or his touch, or the music, but it didn't matter because he seemed to sense it, and pulled her towards him, wrapping his arms around her to hold her steady. She closed her eyes and leaned back against him, letting it all wash over her.

Nothing is real… 

It was all so infectious, and her body seemed to move along with everyone else's completely without her mind's influence. She felt the Doctor close behind her; she wasn't sure if this friction was her dancing or him dancing or both, but suddenly it wasn't the sun or the crowd that was making her hot. The world around her started spinning, and she felt his arms tighten around her before everything fell sideways.

"Just after attention, you are." He was pulling bits of grass up from the ground, watching her with amusement sparkling in his eyes.

She blinked.

"How'd I g –"

"I think, Rose Tyler, that you fainted." He grinned as if this was the most fantastic thing ever.

"I did not faint. Impossible." She stuck her chin out indignantly. "I do not faint."

She realised that her fainting in the middle of a heaving mass of people in the middle of a field was possibly not the greatest move she could have made. Blushing, she also realised that he must have carried her out here.

His grin widened, but he let it go with a quiet, "Humans…"

She threw some grass at him.

"You alright, then?"

_No._

She nodded. Actually, she felt like every inch of her was on fire, and she was sure she was getting sunburnt, but she didn't say anything. Her throat was too dry.

"I'll go and find you some water then, shall I?" he smirked.

She lay down on the warm grass, lolling childishly, and stuck her tongue out at him for good measure as he sauntered off. She drummed her fingers on her stomach absently as she lay there, relishing the feeling of being able to breathe normally. She didn't dwell too much on her close contact with the Doctor, and how it had affected her. They often had little moments like this – like back in the TARDIS – and she usually handled them by brushing them aside. Sometimes she wondered if they were all in her mind, anyway; she still didn't trust the TARDIS when it came to her subconscious.

She was so absorbed in her musings – concentrating so hard, of course, on not dwelling on the Doctor that her mind was completely wrapped up in him – that she didn't notice a tall figure approach her, squinting against the glaring sun.

"Excuse me…"

Rose sat up, taking in the messy dark brown hair and luminous green eyes of the stranger. She flashed him her brightest smile.

"May I…?"

_Hell yes!_

"Sure."

He sat, producing a can of beer from his pocket as he did so, which he held out to Rose in offering. She took it gratefully, wrapping her hands around the cold metal before opening it and drinking.

She grinned as she handed it back to him a few moments later. "Sorry, thirsty."

"It's cool," he took a swig, surveying the scene before them. Then he turned to her.

"I'm Alex, by the way."

"Rose," she smiled again. "You here with mates, or…?"

_Or your girlfriend?_

He nodded, taking another swig of beer. "Uni friends, yeah. You?"

"Just the one. Friend, I mean." She scanned the people milling around near them. "He should be around, actually."

"You guys looked pretty… close, in the crowd back there." He nodded towards the stage.

She looked at him sharply. "How d'you – "

"I, uh…" he laughed, embarrassed, "I was the idiot who fell on you, remember?" He grinned.

"Sorry," he added as an afterthought.

"Oh," she said, laughing. "I forgive you, I promise. But we're not like that. Close, yeah, but close friends."

"Well. Good." He handed the can back to her. "So, Rose. Tell me about yourself."

_Well, I spend most of my time travelling through time and space with an alien who's about eight hundred and eighty years older than me. He's called the Doctor. He'd probably not like you very much…_

"Well, not much to tell." She smiled disarmingly. She hoped. "I travel around a bit…"

* * *

Song by Zero 7. I quoted it because I wrote most of this chapter to the song, and it's dreamy. Plot gets interesting in the next part, I promise ;) 


	3. Searching

The heat was still unrelenting; it was the first odd thing that Rose noticed. As the sun faded from the sky and the bright lights began to shine from the stage, the heat was as intense and suffocating as it had been when she and the Doctor had first stepped out of the TARDIS.

And that was the second odd thing that she noticed. It had been over two hours, and Rose hadn't seen the Doctor since he'd wandered off in search of water. She hadn't been aware of it to begin with, as she'd sat talking to Alex, happy just to soak up the sun and the lively surroundings. At first she'd tried to ignore it, reasoning that he'd probably found someone to chat to or argue with, or had even gone back to the TARDIS, and was tinkering away as usual. But, for some reason, she couldn't let it go and, now that she'd noticed it, she felt his absence keenly. The atmosphere that had settled over the festival with the darkness was unlike anything she'd experienced before. She'd experienced great things, it was true, but nothing like this feeling in the air, this buzz. But in her worried state it only served to tighten the knot in her stomach and she decided to leave Alex, albeit reluctantly, and look for the Doctor.

She couldn't find him anywhere. She looked in various tents where smaller stages were set up; she wandered around the area that was dominated by food stalls, desperately wishing she had some money on her; she went back to where she'd last seen him and looked around there, but he was nowhere to be seen. There was a meeting point, near the entrance, and she stood there for a while, feeling stupid, wishing that he'd worn his leather jacket after all, so that at least he'd have stood out a little from the all the other men she saw, all wearing jeans and t-shirts. Unsurprisingly, he didn't turn up here either. She went back to the TARDIS, and found it empty.

Feeling hot tears prick her eyes, she kicked at the wall in frustration. She wasn't genuinely upset – not yet, at least – but it was just a bit much. She couldn't think where he could possibly be, and the prospect of searching through the extensive campsites was not really one she wanted to consider. And she could just picture the Doctor's exasperated and teasing expression at that, so, grudgingly, she set off.

It was darker outside but the heat seemed, if anything, even worse. Looking up, Rose couldn't see the stars that she was expecting to see and she shivered in spite of the temperature. It looked as if they were cut off from the outside world, hidden under a blanket of this thick, humid, oppressive heat. Her head and her vision began to swim; she stumbled back against the wall of the TARDIS and closed her eyes, wondering why she'd been feeling like this all day, and exasperated at the thought of fainting again. Resting her cheek against the familiar blue wall, she felt comforted; it was cool and it calmed her down. She stayed there for a few minutes, waiting for the dizziness to pass. If only she knew how to drive the TARDIS, she thought; she may have been able to get the sentimental old spaceship to materialize just next to the Doctor, wherever he was.

"Alright," she murmured, "find the Doctor, kill him, get him to give me a driving lesson."

Or find Alex again and – 

"Stop it."

_It's only you who's thinking it._

"And then go somewhere cold. Ice planet or something."

She ran a hand through her hair and pushed away from the TARDIS wall, walking slowly until she was sure she was steady on her feet again.

Right, what would the Doctor do now? She had to be alert, she thought. She might be able to… sense him somehow. Instinctively. She closed her eyes again and listened. Nothing happened.

_Stupid. You don't actually know that he has any remotely psychic abilities, you just assume. _

Rose scowled. "But the TARDIS – "

_You have no idea how much she can do either. _

"Bollocks."

She picked a direction at random and started to walk, wondering how she was going to explain herself to the occupants of the campsite that she was heading into. What did people normally do when they got lost at these things? Probably just made new friends and stayed with them instead, she supposed, as a small group of teenagers staggered past her, covered in what looked suspiciously like ketchup and… noodles?

As the laughter of the group faded into the distance, a cold silence settled around Rose. She felt… alone; the campsite where she found herself seemed eerily desolate. She listened. Nothing. And then the air was full of whispers, as if a strong breeze was blowing through the nearby trees, corrupting the leaves into hissing at her where she stood. Which was odd, because there was not the slightest hint of a breeze in the night air.

She looked into the few tents that were nearest her, and they were empty. She looked into the next few, and they were empty. There were no campfires, no voices… they couldn't _all _be out watching the bands, could they? It was a horrible image; a dark field full of dark shapes that should have been full of lively people. Empty.

Tears began to sting her eyes again and she sat down on a deserted deck chair, completely at a loss. She felt claustrophobic in the heat, her clothes sticking to her, making her skin crawl. A wave of panic washed over her, and she squeezed her eyes tight shut, trying to push the feelings away.

_Really not the time for this, Rose. Get a grip!_

She dropped her head into her hands firmly, attempting to force some sort of order into her thoughts. Was it the heat? She giggled wildly.

_Maybe my brain is melting. _

The giggles descended into full-scale laughter and the tears began to roll down her face as she buried her face in her knees. She knew something was very wrong, but even as the panic rose up in her again she found she could do nothing but sit where she was. Her senses seemed to be far away from her body; she heard an animal move softly and quietly through the grass several feet away.

But she didn't hear the quiet footsteps of the man who approached, didn't notice his presence until she felt a hand clasp her upper arm roughly.


	4. Finding

Heatwaves, part four.

In an instant, everything came rushing back to Rose; she felt it almost physically. She was up at once, one leg kicking out to de-balance her assailant, arms grabbing his and twisting and pushing violently so that they both fell with a thud onto the dry grass beneath them. It was actually a relief to her; her reaction being more in character for her these days than her strange behaviour just now.

_This is more like it, _she thought as she straddled the man, pinning him to the ground and leaning right down to get a look at his face in the gloom, a snarl on her lips.

A pair of big blue eyes blinked at her, patiently amused, deeply… alien. Painfully familiar hands came to rest on her arms and she gasped slightly as his rough palms met her burning skin.

"You know Rose, if you wanted me like this all you had to do was ask. I mean, I could think of better places, but…"

_Nice one. No really, well done, excellent work._

She was sure she was blushing. She was also sure that if he cared to look he could see directly down her top. Neither of them made any attempts to move however, and neither broke eye contact. Rose bit her lip, frowning, unsure whether to hug him or punch him. For a moment, she couldn't quite remember what was going on, oblivious to everything beyond the two of them lying there, staring at each other.

"What are you doing here?" He reached a hand up to her face. "You've been crying."

She shivered as he touched her, and shook her head minutely.

"No. Just… didn't know where else to look."

And then she hit him suddenly, bringing her fist down hard onto his chest. It surprised her as much as it did him; she hadn't planned to do it. She couldn't think of anything else to do. But it made her angry, all the same.

"Where were you?" she hissed.

No hugging, then… 

"I was… I'm sorry. I need to talk to you."

"Something's wrong, isn't it?"

He nodded and then pulled her down into a tight hug, stroking her hair lightly as he did so. Her head on his chest, she could hear both his hearts beating their strange rhythm; could smell the familiar musky scent of him, and she felt safe again. She was unsettled, though, by her reaction to the situation. She'd been travelling with the Doctor for a long time now and she was used to handling herself; she'd proved that just now, so why the hysterics? Maybe the Doctor would be able to tell her. Maybe she was just going mad.

She closed her eyes and they lay there a few moments more, each knowing, though neither spoke, that they wouldn't get another moment like this for some time. The air was heavy, as if there was a storm brewing, and Rose realised that the TARDIS must have put them off course on purpose; they were needed here.

After a while they stood, and the Doctor wordlessly took Rose's hand as he led her out of the deserted field and towards the other side of the festival. The campsite that they'd passed through earlier was less empty, with tents dotted around that were glowing in isolation, campfires and electric torches making them stand out in the darkness.

"So what's going on?"

"I don't know."

"But you said –"

"People are going missing; I don't know why. Yet."

"Missing?"

He stopped and held his arm out into the night. "Look around."

"I know, I just… I thought they'd all be over there watching."

"They are, a lot of them. But a lot of them have disappeared."

"Like you did," she muttered, more to herself than to him.

He squeezed her hand gently. "We won't split up again, I promise."

"But it's not normally… I mean, I'm usually fine on my own. I dunno what came over me…"

He was frowning; Rose could almost see the thoughts forming and spinning around his mind.

"Possibly…" He walked off in the direction of one of the lit tents, muttering to himself distractedly. Then he turned suddenly and marched back up to Rose. "Are you still hot?"

She blinked. "Pardon?"

He stuck his hand out and laid it over her forehead. "Yes. And it's nine o'clock at night. How do you feel?"

"Fine… a bit dizzy…"

He nodded and set off again, leaving Rose with a somewhat bewildered expression on her face. She called out to him as she followed. "What is it?"

"No idea," he returned brightly.

He bent down and peered inside the tent, grunted, and straightened up, turning to face the expectant Rose.

"Empty," he told her, taking her arm and steering her back out to the path. "They were here thirty minutes ago…"

"Who?"

"Just some people I've been talking to. Everyone's missing someone Rose. Everyone's walking around like it's the Sahara desert or something, but the first aid area is empty. There's something…" he waved his hand in the air again, as if to convey his thoughts to Rose. She grinned.

"You're loving this, aren't you? It's…"

He turned to her, the grin on his face mirroring her own. "Fantastic."

They linked hands, and set off.

"Rose?"

They'd just passed back through the meeting area, towards the main stage, when they heard him. The Doctor made to keep going, but Rose detangled her hand from his and turned towards Alex with a smile.

"Hi!" There was silence. She gestured towards the Doctor somewhat awkwardly. "Found him."

"Right." His gaze flickered up to the Doctor nervously and then he took a step towards Rose. "So, um, I kind of lost my friends. I was wondering if you wanted to hang out some more, but I guess if you two…" he looked at her hopefully.

The teenager in her wanted to tell the Doctor not to wait up and go off with Alex, and only partly because she wanted to get him back for forgetting about her earlier. She could feel his eyes on her, though, could sense that he wasn't exactly the happiest Time Lord anymore. She ought not to cause more problems.

_But he's so pretty..._

"I… well, I kind of have to stick with this one," she laughed breathily and nodded towards the Doctor. "Maybe you could come with us…"

"Rose…" the deep voice coming from just over her shoulder sounded vaguely ominous.

"What?" She turned. "This is Alex by the way. He's my friend, and I don't want him going missing as well after all this."

He snorted. "'Friend'? You and your b –"

"Doctor!"

"This isn't the time for –"

"For what? Looking out for your friends?"

"You only met him this afternoon!"

"And I went with you when I'd only just met you. You'd be dead if I hadn't."

He folded his arms and looked at Alex doubtfully. "Well what am I supposed to do with him? Doesn't look very useful…"

The young man in question went bright red, although whether from embarrassment or anger was unclear.

Rose grinned evilly, winking at him. "Oh, I don't know. I could think of at least one use for him…"

She could have sworn she heard the Doctor growl. She met his eyes confidently; willing herself not to be intimidated by the anger she saw in his face. She stood up a little straighter; wasn't any of his business, anyway, if she wanted to… socialise a bit.

_But we're in the middle of a weird twilight zone crisis thing here._

_Whose side are you on?_

_Two of us now, are there?_

She scowled and linked her arm through Alex's. "Come on, you're coming with us."

The Doctor stared at her for a moment and then turned abruptly and started walking again, apparently not caring whether his companion and her friend could keep up or not. After a few minutes of half running behind him Rose rolled her eyes, sighing, and ran fully to his side, tossing a "be right back" over her shoulder at Alex. They were getting nearer to the stage now, and he barely heard her over the music and the noise of the crowd.

"Doctor," she gasped when she caught up with him.

He glanced down at her. "Yes Rose?" he said smugly. "You alright? You look a bit warm."

"Stop using your bloody alien biology to outrun us mere mortal humans! Where are we going? Why are you being so difficult?"

She had raised her voice over the music, but he obviously took it as an aggressive tone and decided to match it. He stopped and turned fully to look at her.

"I don't know where we're going, Rose, because I haven't worked it out yet. I'm just looking for anything that's gonna narrow it down, and you're not helping by dragging your new pet along with us." He scowled. "This is no time for hormones!"

"Hormones? My _pet? _What is wrong with you? You're the one who buggered off to do a bit of detective work when I was half unconscious on the floor, what was I supposed to do?"

"You could try not fainting in the first place; dancing around with the rest of the apes in there, you should know your own limits, you kn –"

"You weren't exactly standing on the sidelines, were you, Doctor," she almost spat his name, prodding a finger into his chest to emphasise her annoyance. "And anyway, it's not like you weren't enjoying the show; you seemed encouraging enough at the time. Or was all that just a figment of my imagination?"

She tilted her head a little, challenging him, trying to ignore the fact that they were standing oppressively close, ignoring it as he grabbed her shoulders and shook her slightly, anger sparking in his eyes. He stared at her, then seemed to falter. No words came. She relaxed under his hands a little. So he had his weaknesses too; she wasn't the only one who felt lost and found all at once whenever they touched. She pushed her arms against his chest gently, shaking her head.

"Just because you're not human," she chastised softly. He opened his mouth to reply, but Rose cut him off. "You always do this, every time I so much as talk to anyone else. And then you _attack _me in the middle of a deserted field…" she felt the rumble of laughter in his chest, and looked up to see this mirrored in his eyes. She grinned. "Could've done you some serious damage you know…"

She laughed as he hugged her to him affectionately. It was brief, but it set everything right again between them.

"Oh." Pulling away, Rose turned to look for Alex. He was nowhere to be seen. "But… he was just there…"

Turning back to the Doctor, she saw him calmly scanning the crowds nearest them, eyes narrowed. She felt a jolt of relief as his expression cleared and he nodded in a direction to the left, and grabbed her hand.

"There."

Following the direction in which he was pointing, she just saw Alex's slim form as he disappeared, engulfed by the crowd. They took off, the Doctor pulling her along as they jogged after him.

The beat of the music was loud and insistent; Rose could feel it pounding in her head. She could have sworn it was getting faster. She could feel her heartbeat in her throat, had to run to keep up with the Doctor's long stride, was sure she'd fall if he let go of her hand even for just a second. She could feel wind rushing past her face and yet the heat was still unbearable. Faces flashed past in a blur and, when she looked down, the yellowing grass at their feet was distorted and hazy. She closed her eyes and let the Doctor steer her, trusting him completely.

There was a tent up ahead, housing one of the many smaller stages at the festival. There was no sign of where Alex had gone, but Doctor led her towards it anyway, perhaps sensing something that she could not.

He entered first and Rose followed cautiously, sensing his unease. She half expected, all the same, to see an audience packed inside the tent watching some obscure band. It was empty. She heard the tent flap fall back into place and shivered; the air in here was freezing, a stark contrast to outside. It rushed over her skin and she felt goosebumps rise on her arms. She stepped a little closer to the Doctor, linking her arm through his. It was dark and damp inside the large tent, and there was a deserted stage at the other end of the structure. The Doctor reached a hand up to his chest absently and then looked down in surprise as he realised he wasn't wearing his leather jacket. He muttered something unintelligible to Rose under his breath as he flattened his palms against his jeans pockets. He located the sonic screwdriver and held it up in front of them, its blue light casting an eerie glow over their surroundings.

He frowned as the light showed up a strangely shaped dark object resting in the centre of the space, about the size of a TV, Rose thought. He strode towards it, leaving Rose standing by the entrance to the tent, and promptly vanished from her sight.

* * *

Please review. This is my first long fic – I usually give up much sooner; I'm determined to finish this – and I'd really appreciate any advice and criticism you have. I probably won't be able to even start the next part until the end of next week due to exams, but I'll do my best. 


End file.
